March 1, 2008

Recap |  Box Score |  Quotes |  Photo Gallery 1  |  Photo Gallery 2 

#9/11 Xavier (25-4, 13-1 Atlantic 10) used an 8-0 run over the last 1:48 of the game to register its 11^th straight win with a 66-56 victory against George Washington (9-15, 5-9). C.J. Anderson led four XU players in double-figure scoring with 15 points. Josh Duncan added 13 while Jason Love scored 12 and Stanley Burrell chipped in 11. Love grabbed 10 rebounds and Burrell and Drew Lavender each had 4 assists. George Washington was led by Rob Diggs who scored 19 points and Johnny Lee who added 15. Diggs grabbed 8 rebounds and had 3 assists while Damian Hollis also had 3 assists.

 

XJU is now 15-1 at Cintas Center this season and 105-16 (.867) all-time at its on-campus arena. The Musketeers are

7-0 in Atlantic 10 play at home this season and 53-10 (.841) all-time against A-10 competition at Cintas Center. 

 

Sophomore Jason Love registered his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. His previous career high was 9 boards three times, most recently against Rhode Island (2-18-08).

 

Xavier came into tonight's game ranked 9^th in the AP poll and 11^th in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. Tonight's win was the Musketeers' 12^th game in its last 14 outings with George Washington. All-time Xavier leads the series with the Colonials 22-9.

 

With tonight's win, XU established a new regular season mark for victories with 25. The previous record was 24 set in the 1987-88, 1989-90, and 2002-03 seasons. The record for most wins in an entire season belongs to the 1989-90 "Sweet 16" team (28-5).

 

Tonight's victory gave Xavier head coach Sean Miller 88 wins as a head coach at Xavier, tying him with Bob Staak (1979-85) for seventh all-time among Xavier coaches.

 

Josh Duncan scored 13 points tonight to bring his career total to 1,090.  He moved into 35^th place on the school's all-time scoring list passing Jim Boothe who scored 1,085 points (1954-57).

 

Xavier is now 19-0 this season when four or more players score in double figures.

 

Xavier, which ranked first in the Atlantic 10 in field goal percentage defense at 40.1 percent, held George Washington to 40.0 percent (20-for-50) from the field.

 

Xavier entered the game shooting 76.0 percent from the free throw line this season, which led the A-10 and was 11^th in all the NCAA. But the Musketeers were an uncharacteristic 16-for-29 (.552) from the line in tonight's game, which marked a season low XU. The previous low free throw shooting performance was 57.7 percent (15-for-26) against Southeast Missouri State (11-10-07).

 

Scoring Runs

 

Xavier started the game with a 19-4 run in the game's first 7:52.  Josh Duncan paced the Musketeers with 5 points off the bench during the run.

 

Trailing 29-11 at the 6:59 mark the Colonials went on a 12-0 run to cut the XU lead to 29-23 at 2:40.  Rob Diggs led George Washington with 4 points during the streak.

 

George Washington began the second half with an 8-2 run to cut the Xavier lead to 38-36 with 17:33 left.  Rob Diggs scored 5 of the 8 points for the Colonials.

 

Leading by just 56-55 with 3:04 to go Xavier finished the game with a 10-1 run for the 66-56 final score. 

Jason Love scored 4 of the 10 points.

 
Up Next: Xavier will travel to Philadelphia to face the Saint Joseph's Hawks on Thursday, March 6, at 7:00 p.m. Xavier defeated Saint Joe's in the teams' earlier matchup this season, 76-72, at Cintas Center. Stanley Burrell scored 16 points to lead four XU scorers in double figures. Josh Duncan scored 13 points, while Drew Lavender chipped in 12 and B.J. Raymond added 11. In that game led 72-68 with 2:15 remaining in the game, before the Musketeers finished with an 8-0 run to claim the victory. Saint Joe's leads the all-time series 19-15, although XU has won three of the last four meetings.